


a snap decision

by avengerfambam, Marvel4ever



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers dont know about Peter, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), Sad, Tony and Steve, author regrets everything, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-12 02:50:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18002408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avengerfambam/pseuds/avengerfambam, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvel4ever/pseuds/Marvel4ever
Summary: He had known for months. He had known since the panic the Vulture gave him, that he would do anything for Peter Parker. His son. He was holding his son when he faded away.





	1. Chapter 1

He had known for months. He had known since the panic the Vulture gave him, that he would do anything for Peter Parker. His son. He was holding his son when he faded away. There was nothing left of Peter, except the ashes that stuck to Tony like a reminder that he should have done more. He should have saved him. He failed Peter as Howard failed him. Then and there he vowed that he would do whatever it took to bring him back. Even if it meant losing himself. 

The only one left with Tony was a blue lady. She called Tony out of his trance and told him to get on her ship. Tony listened, and climbed onto the ship, not knowing what to do next. The women, Nebula, told Tony to sleep, but he couldn’t. When he closed his eyes for even just a second, all he could see was Peter, disintegrating in his hands. He had to get him back. He had too. He knew that if he could get back to earth then he would make up with Steve. With Natasha. The rest of them too, even Bucky. He knew it would take all of them to get his Peter back. He just hoped that they were still alive. Tony kept thinking that if he had been faster if he had just pulled the gauntlet off, they all would definitely still be there. Guilt ate away at him constantly, the only thing keeping him going was the hopes of seeing his son again. 

Nebula landed on earth, a few days later. Tony had given her the coordinates for the upstate avengers compound. Tony and Nebula bonded on the way home so she knew all about who Peter was. She was the only one. He had graciously offered her a place to stay and plan to reverse the Snap. Step one was to find the remaining Avengers. When they landed, that was already done. 

As they walked off the ship and into the compound Tony stopped dead in his tracks. There, mournful expressions on their faces were his family. Yes, Peter was his son, his family, but so were these people. Steve glances up and stared. they made eye contact. Steve. Steve is here. It’s going to be okay. We will be okay. We can save Peter. We can be a family again. Slowly Tony stepped forward.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey, capsicle, it’s been a while-"

Tony was cut off by strong arms hugging him. Tony flinched away before melting into the embrace. Steve had never ever hugged him -No one really hugged him actually.

Howard of course never hugged him, so Maria had followed suit. Pepper had long since learned that hugs were hard for him and therefore turned to soft kisses, or a light hand brushed across his arm.

The first time anyone had actually hugged him had been just a year ago. When Peter mistook his door opening for a hug. Ever since then Peter had been the only one to hug him. His thoughts drifted to Syberia as Steve raised his arms. He thought Steve was going to kill him. He thought he was going to die. Steve could have killed him! He was going to! But he didn’t. He was fighting for his family, even if he was fighting against family.

It's okay- Tony was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Steve pull back from the hug.

With tears in his eyes, Steve whispered, “I-I’m so sorry Tony. I could have killed you. I almost did. I’m so sorry” his voice broke on the last word and Tony could feel the guilt and sorrow radiating off of him. “Hey ice princess, it’s okay. We’re okay. Families fight” Tony didn’t think he’d ever be good at emotions. Never has he been able to express his feelings without throwing a joke or a sarcastic comment in there.

Peter had changed him. For the better. “Hey, Tony. We good?” Natasha added. “Yeah. Looks like I’m back to running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang.” Tony said with a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Who else is here?” Or left, he thought sadly. Natasha answered readily, almost like she was stopping Steve from thinking about it. “Clint, Thor, Rhodey, a raccoon named Rocket,” Nebulas eyes snapped up when she heard one of her teammate's names, Natasha continued. “Bruce, me, you, and Steve. Happy is with his family and so is Pepper.”

Tony couldn’t help but notice that a certain super soldier was left out of the survivor's list. Oh, he thought to himself. That's why Steve looks so sad. He shook the thought of Bucky from his mind and brought himself back to the present. At least Happy and Pepper are ok.

“Where’s the team?” Tony asked. “They are all in the training room. We took a hard hit. It will be hard to shake it off,” Capsicle said. Looking Steve straight in the eye he said, “We all lost. We did that together. We have to fight back together too.” He turned and started to walk to the elevator. Turning back he said, “Yall coming? Let's go assemble.” Natasha and Steve jogged to meet up with him, the same question on their minds. Who did Tony lose, if not Pepper, Happy, or Rhodey?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more coming soon! thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey pals sorry for the late update! we are trying to post a new chapter every day and homegirl forgot yesterday:) please don't hate us. sending virtual hugs. enjoy:)

They were making a plan. They couldn't save the world the first time, but they will be damn sure that they will avenge it. The plans took days to make, ensuring that everything would go as planned, and there were so many weapons to be made, that Tony was busy. Extremely busy.

Tinkering was always something Tony had. Just him and his botts, and some AC/DC music. When he didn’t have his dads approval, he had his lab. When he didn’t have Pepper, he had his lab. When he didn’t have the team, he had his lab. Now he didn’t have Peter, but he had his lab. It was his safe space, and he spent hours there. Making things perfect. Seamless. Tony was working so hard to make sure the plan was foolproof. He spent hours in his workshop, barely coming out for coffee.

One morning Steve dragged him out for breakfast in the communal kitchen. All of the remaining Avengers sat at the bar, talking about strike tactics. Nat gave Tony a nod when he walked in, and Bruce started to make him a coffee. Random, non-tactical conversations sprung up, and Steve finally had the nerve to ask a question they had all been wondering. “Look, Tony, we all really appreciate that you are doing all of this work- but I have to ask. Why? We all lost someone that we loved, but you didn’t lose anyone. I once said that the only thing you fight for is yourself. Are you doing this to prove me wrong?” No one spoke. The only noise was Nat punching Steve on the arm. Still, they all looked to Tony; they had all wondered why he would work so hard to get no one back.   
Everyone was looking at him. He took a deep breath and said, “His name was Peter.” No one seems to know what to say. Who was Peter? Biting back tears, his voice filled with bitterness, he continued. “My son died in my arms. He’s the one person I love the most. Loved. He was so amazingly smart, and sweet. Hell that kid is, was, everything I never could be. You say I didn’t lose anyone? Bullshit. I lost everything. My life crumbled in my hands and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. I couldn't protect the one thing I can’t live without. So that’s why I am I have to do everything I can to fix it. I can’t leave anything up to chance anymore. Not again.”  
“Tony, I’m so sorry.”   
“It’s fine Dorito, you didn’t know. Now you do. I'll be in the lab.”   
Tony left, leaving all everyone in shock. Natasha asked the first question. “Wait- he has a son? Since when?” Clint added, “Rhodey, did you know about this?”

Tony watched them argue and talk about him and his ‘son’ through the security cameras. He sighed, “I have to explain, don’t I Fri.” “Unfortunately yes, boss.” “I'll go back up soon.”

 

“ ‘New York. Queens. A rough barrel of hay but it's home.’ ‘Who are you talking to?’ ‘No one. Just making a little video of the trip.’ ”Peter's voice filled Tony’s lab. His trip to Germany vlog was being projected on the wall. Tony sat and watched for what seemed like the 60th time. ‘He was so innocent. So pure and uncorrupted,’ Tony thought to himself. Why didn’t I send him home? Because of me, he isn’t with his Aunt right now. His thoughts were interrupted by the lab door closing. The video was still playing, at the part when Tony was with Peter in the car. Tony looked up to see Clint and Natasha walk in. They were looking at the kid on the screen with interest, hoping it was Peter they were seeing.   
“Hey, Tony,” Natasha began. “Is that him? Peter?” Tony looked back to the video, paused on a shot of them sitting in the backseat. “Yeah. He was such a good kid. Smart. Kind. Kids got more of a hero complex than Steve,” he said ruefully.   
“How could he not, with you as his dad” Clint added softly with a smile.  
“He isn’t mine,” Tony cut in suddenly.   
“What? You said he was your kid,” Natasha pressed, very confused.  
“He’s not my son. Biologically.”   
“Oh.”  
“But he is- was mine in every other way that counts.”   
“How did you meet him?” Natasha’s surprising maternal tone caught both Clint and Tony off guard.   
“The kid was spiderman.”   
“Wait- I fought a kid?” Clint said, clearly alarmed.   
“Calm yourself Legolas, he could take care of himself. And it wasn’t supposed to be a fight. And don’t act all self-righteous, you dragged Wanda into it as well.” He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I-I just.” He stopped, breathing hard. “If I hadn't brought him in then, I never would have met him. If I didn’t bring a freaking fifteen-year-old kid to fight my battle I never would have met him. In a way, I’m glad I did, but I also shouldn’t have done it. But not knowing him is one of the saddest things I can think of”

“I get it. The team doesn’t blame you. It's what anyone would have done.”

Steve paused at the door, overhearing the conversation. Deciding to make himself known, he stepped inside and said, “We’ll get them back. Biological son or not, we will get him back.”   
“The plan will work.” Clint added.  
“It has to.”  
“I don’t know what I’ll do if it doesn’t.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if y'all have any suggestions that you would like us to write:)  
> as we've said before, we don't actually know what we are doing. so, using that as our excuse we completely skipped over how they defeat thanos and get all the fam back. just pretend. okay? okay. it's a doozy. we deeply apologize

Peter was safe. He was back where he belonged, alive and well. Peter gave Tony a hug, surprising him. This wasn't like the car door incident years ago, for Tony hugged his boy back. They got there. He didn’t see the blood coming out of Tony’s stomach, or the fact that he was barely standing up straight. Peter relinquished his hug and saw the blood. “Mr. Stark! What happened?” He just shook his head, as if he couldn’t speak. Karen spoke instead. “Boss has received a fatal stab wound to the aortic aneurysm and has lost a lot of blood.”  
“No Mr. Stark! I can’t lose you too!”  
“I'm so sorry kid. You deserve better than an old man that can't protect you-” He was cut off by Peter yelling.  
“you can protect me! You just did. I-I I can’t lose anyone else.” He tried to stop his tears but they were too persistent.  
“Peter,” Tony tried again, “You are the bravest person I know. You are so much better than the person I hoped you would become. It's not fair for you to lose anyone else, but that's the way it is. Keep your head up, and make me proud. I,” he stuttered, “I love you.”  
“I love you too dad.” Peter gave him one more hug and watched as his dad took one more breath. Tony closed his eyes, and as he drifted off, he was only thinking of Peter.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue  
“Peter! You’re going to be late!” May’s voice called through the hall. Peter sat up groggily and glanced at his clock. ‘Shoot, I’m way late,’ he thought, as he sprung out of bed. He got dressed quickly and brushed his teeth. 

It had been 2 months since the media-dubbed ‘Infinity War.’ It has been 1 month and 28 days since Tony’s funeral. His real one. There was two, one that was huge and worthy of a Stark, and one that was personal, and kept from the public eye. Tony Stark was known for fancy things and loving everything extravagant, but Peter thinks that Tony would have liked the private one. Only the Avengers were there, along with the Wakandan Royal family, Bucky, Helen Cho, Pepper, Happy, and the Parkers. Steve went up and shared some stories, along with Nat. It was nice. Simple. Meaningful. 

Peter rushed out the door, already 10 minutes late, yelling behind him “love you may! See you tonight.”  
On the train, Peter thought about going to school, but he was already late to his first class, and he didn’t want to deal with Flash making jokes about him being late. He had his fill of that yesterday. Instead, Peter got off that the next stop. The cemetery. 

When he arrived at Tony's grave, he was astounded at how many flowers and other memorabilia like things were there. He was the only Avenger to give their life in Infinity War, and he was most definitely remembered. Peter sat on the grass and just talked. “Hey, Mr. Stark. I know I should be in school but… it's so hard to be there. No one knows what happened to me and I can't tell anyone but May. And she's always so busy and I don't want to bother her.” He took multiple deep breathes and tried to stop his tears. “I just miss you so much.” He traced the words on Tony’s headstone. Loving Husband. Loyal Friend. Kind Father. His tears fell harder when he got to kind father. Pepper did that just for him. Life and death cannot take away the fact that they are family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well that's that. this was very short and not well written so yeah. it's fine. buttttt we loved writing it so leave any and all suggestions and we will try not to ruin your dreams by badly writing them. but we will write them:)

**Author's Note:**

> and that's chapter one! just fyi, this is the first fanfic we have ever written, so any feedback or comments are very welcome! also, constructive criticism is appreciated as well:) posting more soon!


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